CAIRO, Nov 24 (AFP) - One of the two main rebel groups in Sudan's war-torn Darfur region said Wednesday it considered truce deals signed with Khartoum effectively over, warning that it would resume fighting and seek to oust the government.
The statement, from the London-based spokesman of the Sudan Liberation Movement, Mahjoub Hussein, came only a day after he had reaffirmed the SLM's commitment to the accords.
"All the agreements signed in Abuja and Ndjamena have broken down," Hussein told AFP by telephone from London.
He declared null and void agreements on a cessation of hostilities signed in Ndjamena last year and a security protocol signed in Abuja earlier this month, saying the government had failed to honor them.
The SLM has decided to resume fighting to overthrow the government of Sudanese President Omar al-Beshir, he said. "All the war now is starting again. We are ready for everything."
Hussein said the movement has decided to adopt a "new strategy" and approach in the 21-month conflict with the government and its proxy militias.
Rather than fight for greater autonomy for Darfur and against the marginalisation of the region, the SLM will now also try to unseat the government, he said.
The SLM, he added, was left with "no way" but to "change the Sudan government."
But in a written statement sent to AFP Wednesday, and dated a day earlier, Hussein had said "the SLM reaffirms its engagement in respecting the ceasefire and all agreements made with the Sudanese government."
When asked, Hussein said the earlier statement was no longer valid.
"Forget about it," he said, declining to explain what appeared to be 180-degree shift in the SLM's position.
The statement was in reaction to a report by the official Al Anbaa daily that North Darfur state Governor Osman Yusuf Kibir had declared as state of emergency and a curfew in the wake of "a grave military escalation by the rebels."
Rebels had allegedly killed 21 policemen and an unknown number of civilians in attacks, the interior ministry said.
Kibir said rebels of the SLM and the Justice and Equality Movement had violated a ceasefire 19 times in less than two weeks, despite signing the Abuja deal.
In his statement Tuesday, Hussein said "the SLM denies that its army launched attacks on (government) positions in the state of North Darfur and affirms that information provided by Khartoum is totally erroneous."
Each side in the 21-month-old Darfur conflict has repeatedly accused the other of violating the ceasefire.
The fighting began in February 2003 when rebels launched an insurrection to protest what they allege is the political and economic marginalisation of black Africans by the Arab-led government.
Khartoum's response was to unleash the Arab Janjaweed, who have been blamed by Western officials and aid workers for killings, rape and widespread violations of human rights.
Since then, more than 70,000 people have been killed or have died from hunger and disease in the area, according to the United Nations, and another 1.5 million have been displaced.
The SLM's decision to resume military operations came amid continuing violence in the region.
Hussein said that on Wednesday morning Sudanese government planes bombed Tabit, a village some 40 kilometers (25 miles) southwest of El-Fashir, the capital of North Darfur, killing three women and injuring a child.
Earlier Wednesday, the charity group Save the Children said an escalation of military conflict in the region had caused its staff to flee Tawillah, a town in North Darfur.
"An aerial attack by the Government, including one bomb which landed 50 metres (yards) from a Save the Children UK feeding centre, forced over 30 of our staff to flee the town into the desert," the organization said in a statement received by AFP here.
"Both sides have demonstrated utter disregard for the ceasefire. Yet again innocent civilians, particularly women and children, are suffering at the hands of the rebels and their own Government," noted Toby Porter, director of emergencies.
And special United Nations representative to Sudan Jan Pronk said growing violence in Sudan was worrisome and called on both sides to halt hostilities immediately.
"The parties have committed themselves to refrain from all hostilities and military actions. "I fully expect them to live up to their obligations," he said.
"Parties should understand that the recent aggression goes directly against the spirit and letter of the Abuja Protocols, and cannot be justified on the basis of self defense or grievances that pre-date the 9 November agreement to cease hostile actions."
11/24/2004 17:49 GMT - AFP